Transparency News 10/12/15

State and Local Stories

The Hampton school system has settled a lawsuit brought by the family of a special needs student who contended she was sexually assaulted at Kecoughtan High School in 2013. But the school division won't say how much was paid to settle the case. Hampton Circuit Court Judge Bonnie L. Jones signed off on the settlement in late September. But though Hampton City Schools operates with $195 million in taxpayer money, lawyers for the school system and the student's family jointly asked Jones to seal the agreement. Their two-paragraph joint motion gave little explanation for why the seal was needed, except that "the Settlement Agreement is confidential and disclosure would violate its terms." Jones agreed to that request, meaning that any payments to the family remain a secret. In dismissing the case on Sept. 22, she did not lift the seal.
Daily Press

When Roanoke-area health care providers make their worst mistakes, the results can get buried in two places: graveyards and out-of-town courthouses. Graveyards are where the victims of medical malpractice are buried; out-of-town courthouses are where the wrongful death lawsuits sometimes are settled, largely out of public view. At least 21 times over the past decade in Roanoke Circuit Court, lawsuits were dropped after both sides tentatively agreed to settle claims that a patient died because of errors by a doctor, nurse or hospital. Lawyers then went to another courthouse — often in small towns such as Fincastle, Floyd and Stuart — to have a different judge approve the settlement.
Roanoke Times


National Stories
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Illinois law says government officials' emails about taxpayer business are public records for all to see. But what if they're sent from private accounts or personal cellphones? Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel argues those are not for public consumption. The Chicago Tribune claims they are, and took the matter to court last month. Gov. Bruce Rauner had his own dust-up this summer over an aide's private emails, and the practice cost a University of Illinois chancellor her job in August. The issue, once limited to scattered consternations over politicians playing fast and loose with new technology, is pervasive this year, beginning with revelations about Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server to conduct business while she was U.S. secretary of state — a case that spurred a lawsuit by The Associated Press. Public-access advocates insist Illinois law is clear, and the state's attorney general and appellate court weighed in just two years ago, declaring that public business is public record — no matter how it's conducted. The Illinois Freedom of Information Act requires disclosure of public records "regardless of physical form or characteristics." The appellate court decreed in a case involving the Champaign City Council that making an exception for communication on private devices would allow officials to "subvert" FOIA by avoiding all official channels. That very concern is back in court as government officials parse the 2013 ruling's language.
CTPost

There's a fresh look at how transparent major companies are when it comes to their political activity. More than two dozen companies on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index scored 90 percent or better, out of 100, in the new rankings. The high ratings don't correlate with the companies' line of work. The top 28 included medical equipment manufacturer Becton, Dickinson and Co., railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern, AFLAC insurance, tech giants Microsoft and Intel, and drug maker Bristol-Myers Squibb. Companies that scored zero included Berkshire Hathaway, Urban Outfitters and Netflix. Corporate political action committees, funded by employees, already disclose their contributions by law, as do superPACs that accept corporate treasury funds. But trade associations, business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and 501c4 "social welfare" groups have no disclosure requirement. Some firms earmark such funds for strictly non-political use.
NPR

The Obama administration has backed down in its bitter dispute with Silicon Valley over the encryption of data on iPhones and other digital devices, concluding that it is not possible to give American law enforcement and intelligence agencies access to that information without also creating an opening that China, Russia, cybercriminals and terrorists could exploit. With its decision, which angered the F.B.I. and other law enforcement agencies, the administration essentially agreed with Apple, Google, Microsoft and a group of the nation’s top cryptographers and computer scientists that millions of Americans would be vulnerable to hacking if technology firms and smartphone manufacturers were required to provide the government with “back doors,” or access to their source code and encryption keys. 
New York Times

St. Paul, Minnesota, recently reinvigorated the debate over government transparency by adopting a new policy that automatically purges all city emails after six months. The city had previously kept email for three years. All city governments delete emails after a certain period in order to properly manage the data and free server space. But the length of time a government keeps its email has become a prominent issue, from Hilary Clinton's personal server to a blogger's request with his city. Rochester is among the few Minnesota cities with an automatic email deletion system. In fact, Rochester has one of the shorter retention periods in the state — 60 days. Comparatively, Mankato deletes emails after 90 days but encourages staff to save most emails. Austin suggests that staff members delete email after 90 days, but it's not required.
Post Bulletin

Editorials/Columns

Let me tell you a story. I'll try to tell it as clearly as I can, but it's complicated, so feel free to take notes. Once upon a time there was an Authority. Except it wasn't really an Authority. (When it becomes an Authority in a couple of years, it will take over the state government's highly profitable monopoly on liquor sales.) Right now it doesn't exist. Anyway, the Authority (that doesn't exist) wanted to be able to talk in secret about plans (that it didn't actually have yet) to market and conduct its business. Apparently discussions about how much money it was going to make from its monopoly and how to market the monopoly to make more money is none of your business, even though the profits from the Authority (that doesn't exist) and the taxes it will collect on booze sales flow into the state's coffers to help pay its bills.
Marisa Porto, Daily Press

THE ORNATE marble chamber in which the Supreme Court hears cases accommodates about 400 spectators. Among these are reporters, guests of the justices and members of the Supreme Court Bar — lawyers who may never argue a case before the justices but who retain privileges at the court. Once all those take their seats, The Post’s Robert Barnes reports, sometimes fewer than 100 spaces remain. The result: long, long lines for members of the public hoping to hear a major case argued or decided. The court tried to make things a little fairer last week, informing lawyers that they would have to line up personally to get into their special section, instead of hiring line-standers to wait for them. But the odds will still be stacked against the public. Ordinary people should have a front-row seat to the proceedings in one of the most powerful public institutions in the country — even if it’s a virtual seat. It’s time for the court to end its ban on cameras in the courtroom. Transcripts of oral arguments often post hours after they occur. Audio usually isn’t available until the end of the week. Those who don’t get in must rely on snippets from Twitter and other second-hand accounts for information on court arguments or decisions, depriving them of context to understand the justices’ words. The presence of live audio and video would solve these problems, and more.
Washington Post